From time to time a wine-related gadget appears that makes me wonder just how correct P.T. Barnum might have been. The latest such gadget (I prefer the word "chupchik") to make its way to me (thankfully only by email and not in the flesh) is Ravi.

Ravi is basically a nozzle that fits on the end of wine bottles and, as your pour is said to lower the temperature to whatever you consider ideal for that wine. As the brochure has it " Ravi is based on the innovative concept of cooling wine at the very moment it’s served. It’s not the bottle that is cooled, but the wine itself. The cooling process takes place as the wine passes through ravi. With an internal tube made from the same stainless steel used for fermentation tanks, ravi maintains the wine’s characteristics and never alters the taste. ."

Odd, I had never thought that a temperature controlled wine would harm the flavor of a wine. In fact, even the good old refrigerator (or ice-box for those who don't have refrigerators) will cool the bottle and thus the ingredients inside as well and do minimal if any harm at all to the wine in those bottles.

But then again, ravi is said to consist of two components – the first which is kept in the freezer and the second, the part that goes into the neck of the bottle, stored with kitchen utensils.

And all that for a measily US$50. Anyone want to try it? If so, you can order at http://chillyourwine.com/ . Me, I'll give this one the same miss that I give magnets and breathable glasses.

If you can remember to keep part of the gubbins in a freezer ready for the occasion when you forget to cool a wine, then you could remember to keep a chill-sleeve that costs a fraction of the price and quickly and simply chills your wine. And doesn't have parts, and doesn't need cleaning after every use.

Did someone mention snake oil? Even if it is cold to start it will be the same temperature as the wine very quickly, and it will be at room temperature well before the end of your meal if the bottle is sitting on your dining room table. And I wonder why the bottle in the ice bucket starts out at room temperature when the bottle from the cellar starts at 17 degrees. Methinks there is some strange science going on here.

Cheers,
Neil Courtney

'Wine improves with age. The older I get, the better I like it.' --- Anonymous.

Ian Sutton wrote:For starters, a device that pumps wine directly from an upright bottle via a handy hose, into the wine glasses without having to tip the bottle / disturb sediment.

Hey, I actually own one of those! But it doesn't pump the wine--it dispenses it under slight pressure from a nitrogen tank. This is how nitrogen dispensers work. But the don't-disturb-the-sediment dispensing isn't the main purpose of the device--it's to avoid oxidation by replacing the ullage with inert nitrogen as the wine is dispensed.

Well, here's another one. Guaranteed to preserve an open bottle of wine for 10 days. Might even work. The question is, who in the world wants to keep an open bottle of wine for 10 days? See the promo at http://www.sowine-bar.com/

Daniel Rogov wrote:From time to time a wine-related gadget appears that makes me wonder just how correct P.T. Barnum might have been.

Rogov

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Daniel, just for the record: A Barnum competitor in hoaxes, George Hull, of Binghamton, New York was the man who said that a sucker is born every minute. Barnum, who became more well known, was tagged with the statement after a court case about a particular hoax of Hull's doing.